Who texts, and with whom do they text? This article examines the use of texting using metered traffic data from a large dataset (nearly 400 million anonymous text messages). We ask: 1) How much do different age groups use mobile phone based texting (SMS)? 2) How wide is the circle of texting partners for different age groups? 3) To what degree are texting relationships characterized by age and gender homophily? We find that texting is hugely popular among teens compared to other age groups. Further, the number of persons with whom people text is quite small. About half of all text messages go to only five other persons. Finally, we find that there is pronounced homophily in terms of age and gender in texting relationships. These findings support previous claims that texting is an important element of teen culture and is an element in the construction of a bounded solidarity.
BaronNCampbellEM (2010) Talking Takes Too Long: Gender and Cultural Patterns in Mobile Telephony. Association of Internet Researchers Gothenburg, Sweden, October.
2.
BoaseJLingR (2011) Measuring mobile phone use: Self-report versus log data. Article presented at the International Communication Association, Boston, MA, 27 May.
3.
BolinGWestlundO (2009) Mobile generations: The role of mobile technology in the shaping of Swedish media generations. International Journal of Communication3: 108–124.
4.
BovillALivingstoneSM (2001) Bedroom culture and the privitization of media use. London: LSE research online. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/672/.
5.
CampbellSKwakN (2007) Mobile communication and social capital in localized, glocalized, and scattered networks. Mobile Communication pre-conference of the International Communications Association.
6.
CohenALemishDSchejterAM (2007) The Wonder Phone in the Land of Miracles: Mobile Telephony in Israel. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
7.
DietmarC (2005) Mobile communication in couple relationships. In: NyiriK (ed.) A Sense of Place: The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 201–208.
8.
DöringNHellwigKKlimsaP (2005) Mobile communication among German youth. In: NyiriK (ed.) A Sense of Place: The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 209–217.
9.
ElliottAUrryJ (2010) Mobile Lives. London: Routledge.
10.
Ellwood-ClaytonB (2003) Virtual strangers: Young love and texting in the Filipino archipelago of cyberspace. In: NyiriK (ed.) Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics. Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 35–45.
11.
FischerC (1982) To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
12.
GergenK (2008) Mobile communication and the transformation of democratic process. In: KatzJE (ed.) The Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 297–312.
13.
GogginG (2006) Cell Phone Culture: Mobile Technology in Everyday Life. London: Routledge.
14.
GogginGCrawfordK (2011) Generation disconnections: Youth culture and mobile communication. In: LingRCampbellS (eds) Mobile Communication: Bringing Us Together or Tearing Us Apart? The Mobile Communication Research Series Volume II. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
15.
GranovetterM (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology78: 1360–1380.
16.
GreenN (2003) Outwardly mobile: Young people and mobile technologies. In: KatzJE (ed.) Machines that Become Us. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 201–217.
17.
HaddonL (2004) Information and Communication Technologies in Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg.
18.
Hård af SegerstadY (2005) Language in SMS: A socio-linguistic view. In: HarperRPalenLTaylorA (eds) The Inside Text: Social, Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS. Dordrecht: Springer, 33–52.
19.
HellesR (2009) Personlige Medier i Hverdagslivet. København: Afdeling for medier, erkendelse og formidling, Københavns Universitet.
20.
HillebrandFTrosbyFHolleyK. (2010) Short Message Service: The Creation of Personal Global Text Messaging. Chichester: Wiley.
21.
IbahrineM (2008) Mobile communication and sociopolitical change in the Arab world. In: KatzJE (ed.) Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 257–272.
22.
IgarashiTTakaiJYouhidaT (2005) Gender differences in social network development via mobile phone text messages: A longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships22(5): 691–713.
23.
IshiiK (2006) Implications of mobility: The uses of personal communication media in everyday life. Journal of Communications56: 346–365.
24.
ItoMDaishukeO (2005) Intimate connections: Contextualizing Japanese youth and mobile messaging. In: HarperRPalenLTaylorA (eds) The Inside Text: Social, Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS. Dordrecht: Springer, 127–145.
25.
ItoMDaishukeO (2006) Intimate connections: Contextualizing Japanese youth and mobile messaging. In: KrautRBryninMKieslerS (eds) Computers, Phones and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
JohnsenT (2003) The social context of the mobile phone use of Norwegian teens. In: FortunatiLKatzJERicciniR (eds) Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication and Fashion. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 161–170.
28.
KasesniemiELRautiainenP (2002) Mobile culture of children and teenagers in Finland. In: KatzJEAakhusM (eds) Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 170–192.
29.
KatzJEAakhusM (2002) Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
KitterødRH (2002) Store endringer i småbarnsforeldres dagligliv. Samfunnsspeilet4–5.
31.
KopomaaT (2005) The breakthrough of text messaging in Finland. In: HarperRPalenLTaylorA (eds) The Inside Text: Social, Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS. Dordrecht: Springer, 147–159.
LicoppeC (2004) Connected presence: The emergence of a new repertoire for managing social relationships in a changing communications technoscape. Environment and Planning: Society and Space22(1): 135–156.
35.
LingR (2004) The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone’s Impact on Society. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
36.
LingR (2005) Mobile communications vis-à-vis teen emancipation, peer group integration and deviance. In: HarperRTaylorAPalenL (eds) The Inside Text: Social Perspectives on SMS in the Mobile Age. London: Kluwer, 175–194.
37.
LingR (2008a) Exclusion or self-isolation? Texting and the elderly users. The Information Society24(5): 334–341.
38.
LingR (2008b) New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication is Reshaping Social Cohesion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
39.
LingR (2009) Mobile communication and teen emancipation. In: GogginGHjorthL (eds) Mobile Technologies: From Telecommunications to Media. New York: Routledge, 50–61.
40.
LingR (2010) Texting as a life phase medium. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication15: 277–292.
41.
LingR (forthcoming) Taken for Grantedness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
42.
LingRHaddonL (2008) Children, youth and the mobile telephone. In: DortnerKLivingstoneS (eds) International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: Sage, 137–151.
43.
LingRYttriB (2006) Control, emancipation and status: The mobile telephone in teens’ parental and peer relationships. In: KrautRBryninMKieslerS (eds) Computers, Phones and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology. New York: Oxford University Press, 219–234.
44.
LingRBaronNLenhartACampbellS (2010) ‘Girls text really weird’: Cross-gendered texting among teens. Article presented at the Association of Internet Researchers.
45.
LivingstoneS (2007) From family television to bedroom culture: Young people’s media at home. In: DevereuxE (ed.) Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates. London: Sage, 302–321.
46.
OksmanVRautianenP (2003) ‘Perhaps it is a body part’: How the mobile telephone became an organic part of the everyday lives of Finnish children and teenagers. In: KatzJE (ed.) Machines that Become Us. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 293–308.
RubinL (1985) Just Friends: The Role of Friendship in our Lives. New York: Harper.
50.
SkogBJamtøyAI (2002) Ungdom og SMS. ISS Report No. 60. Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
51.
SmoredaZThomasF (2001) Social networks and residential ICT adoption and use. EURESCOM Summit 2001 3G Technologies and Applications. Heidelberg: EURESCOM.
ThulinEVilhelmsonB (2008) Mobile phones: Transforming the everyday social communication practice of urban youth. In: LingRCampbellSW (eds) The Mobile Communications Research Annual, Volume 1: The Reconstruction of Space and Time Through Mobile Communication Practices. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
